# Name this instrument

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-instrument/62952>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 23, 2001, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-instrument/62952 "2001-04-23T02:41:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-instrument/62952/1 "2001-04-23T02:41:01Z")

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What is the instrument (aside from the drums and guitar) used in the beginning of the Guns ‘n’ Roses song “Anything Goes”? It also appears in the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”. It sounds like someone scraping metal against metal with ridges on it.

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**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-instrument/62952/2 "2001-04-23T03:08:44Z")

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A washboard & spoon?

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**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-instrument/62952/3 "2001-04-23T03:34:24Z")

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I’m pretty sure that the sound in “Gimme Shelter” is just a high hat that’s been miked, compressed and run through an old English tube mixer. I could be way off on this though.

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**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-instrument/62952/4 "2001-04-23T03:52:22Z")

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The name of the instrument escapes me currently, I believe that it is South American in origin. It is constructed of a elongated gourd that is engraved with a scalloped set of ridges running the length of it. These ridges are stroked with a sort of thin tined fork in order to produce the noise. The typical riff is one slow scrape across the length of the gourd and then two taps upon the hollow body of the instrument. The instrument’s name may start with the letter “m”.

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**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-instrument/62952/5 "2001-04-23T04:02:01Z")

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Guiro - scraper of the Caribbean; long, fretted gourd rubbed with stick.

So, what the Hell, the letter “g”.

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**Author:** ![Henry\_Weinhard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Henry\_Weinhard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henry_Weinhard)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-instrument/62952/6 "2001-04-23T04:45:17Z")

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Pronounced “wee-roe”. Guiro looks a little bit strange 😃

Henry